The Psychology Behind Effective Direct Mail

It’s easy for digital marketing methods to make direct mail marketing seem like an antiquated and outdated marketing method. However, direct mail is still the winner when it comes to customer engagement and connection. Direct mail has been successful since ancient times because of its basis in psychology and human behavior. Marketers who understand how this works are more likely to create direct mail marketing that customers can relate to on multiples levels.

Physical Touch

You can't hold an e-mail in your hands or truly feel the physical impact of digital marketing. However, a piece of direct mail connects with the recipient in a real and tangible way. Customers like how it feels in their hands, and that is something that marketers should consider. Different types of paper, printing, and finishing can create a unique marketing experience that connects with customers from the first touch of a fingertip. 

Unique Personalization

It’s a scientific fact that when a person hears their own name, there are different brain regions that activate more than hearing the names of others. Likewise with marketing, using a person’s name leads to stronger results. This allows for a connection with a customer on a deeper level: knowing that something was prepared especially for them. Personalization might also mean using past customer purchases or preferences to influence what messaging is used to relate to that customer. For example, a customer who purchased a vehicle from a dealership over 4 years ago could be a good candidate to receive direct mail marketing about vehicle protection plans as they approach their warranty expiration date.

The Scarcity Principle

Supply and demand are concepts that most of us are familiar with, but what about scarcity and urgency? The principle of scarcity disrupts the basic model of supply and demand and is an effective marketing tool. This traces back to our psychology and the fact that we want to gather goods or services while we can and before they run out. The scarcity mindset can create a rush to purchase a product or service that we might not otherwise need at the moment. A few of the types of phrases to include in direct mail marketing that create scarcity and urgency are:

• Act Now

• Limited Time Offer

• While Supplies Last

These key phrases put people into the mindset that they should take swift action right now. That is precisely what you want them to do to maximize your ROI for marketing efforts.

Thoughtful Creative Design

An attractive and well-designed mailer might be all that it takes to push some consumers to respond to a direct mail piece. Humans like to look at things that are aesthetically pleasing, and a beautiful direct mail piece fits into that category. Direct mail marketing should include thoughtfulness in design around color, typography, imagery, packaging, and more.

For example, the colors used in a direct mail marketing piece can influence many emotions. Flux Academy’s color emotion chart shows just how influential different shades can be to human emotion and the subconscious feelings that they may incite.

Flux Academy’s color emotion chart

The Anchoring Bias

The concept of the anchoring bias is that humans will rely most heavily on the first piece of information that we are given about a topic, product, or service. Any information that is gathered after the first piece of information is interpreted from that reference point instead of seeing it objectively. This means that when someone receives a piece of direct mail about a product or service, they will likely formulate their strongest opinions based on that marketing piece.

Milestone Marketing Solutions is here to assist you with your direct mail marketing needs. We would love to speak with you to learn more about how we may be able to assist in creating direct mail marketing campaigns that appeal in many ways to your customers to produce a strong ROI. Contact us using the form below and we will respond as soon as possible.